“Ethical” OTA gives power back to hotels
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A new online booking site has been launched that aims to operate in a more “fair and ethical” manner.
Traveliko, which focuses on hotel bookings, says it wants to help “make the world a better place”, by operating a business model that is fairer to its partners, and which contributes to charitable projects. The overall aim, according to the OTA’s founders, is to “re-balance travel business ethics”.
“Traveliko challenges the status quo by offering an alternative to the current OTA systems which often see hotel operators crippled by high commissions and pressured to lower their room rates in order to guarantee exposure on a handful of dominant travel websites,” says Yann Gouriou, the company’s co-founder, who is a former hotel GM.
“Traveliko not only promises the best available rate every time guests book a room online, it only takes a flat 10% commission which is significantly lower than the OTAs currently dominating the market. Traveliko also donates 20% of the net commission earned to project-oriented charities selected by guests in the country where the hotel is located,” he added.
Ahead of its official launch in the first quarter of 2017, Traveliko has already signed up several international hotel groups including Absolute Hotel Services, Centara and Red Planet, as well a number of smaller chains and independent hotels in Thailand, Sri Lanka and the Maldives.
Reducing the amount of commission hotels pay will help in a range of areas, according to Traveliko. The money saved can be used to improve the guest experience, and the charitable donations will help good causes.
“We are serious about changing the online booking industry and we have spent a long time building a new standalone OTA from scratch,” said Gouriou.
“We are personally contracting all the hotels on the platform ourselves. It’s something that’s not being done anymore because white labelling seems to be the name of the game. The problem is that white labelling doesn’t offer anything new, which is why we are very excited about the features and opportunities we can offer hoteliers and travellers, and even more excited that we will be launching the site to consumers in the next couple of months so we get to hear what they think about it,” he concluded.
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